This HiiL report follows the outcomes of nation-wide justice needs and satisfaction survey that HiiL conducted in Uganda in 2016. That report showed that justice problems relating to the family rank constitute the most prevalent justice problem for Ugandans. More than 1 million serious family justice problems occur in Uganda every year: most of them are domestic violence and separation related. As in other countries, our survey shows high impact of family problems on people’s lives. Impact on women is more severe than impact on men.

The Family Justice report contains a deeper understanding of the family-related problems that Ugandans face. This includes the processes people follow to solve these problems and the outcomes that they obtain when attempting to get a solution. It sets out the foundation for an agenda for innovation that builds on the needs of users of family justice processes.

Instead of proposing new legislation or financing additional services, the report outlines terms of reference and user stories: what should the family justice process achieve for women, men, girls and boys? What do justice providers from the informal or formal sector need, in order to help solve family problems more effectively?

For the second time HiiL has held an Innovating Justice Boostcamp in Kampala, which took place on 7 and 8 September this year. The Boostcamp was part of the selection process for the winners of the Innovating Justice Challenge 2017, a global challenge that seeks to find innovative solutions preventing or resolving the most pressing justice needs of people around the world.

This year, from over 60 applications that came in from Uganda, 10 were shortlisted by HiiL to take part in the Boostcamp, and 5 of those ended up pitching in front of a jury to stand to win the Challenge. The shortlisted innovations are tackling a variety of justice needs, including gender based violence, land disputes, forced migration and employment issues.

During the first day of the Boostcamp, the group of innovators took off on a bus early morning to Entebbe to spend a full training day in retreat-setting guided by a group of expert mentors. The programme included learning about Lean Start-up methodology, filling out a Social Business Canvas, designing their first experiments on a Javelin Board and practicing their 4-minute pitch. In the afternoon the teams, recognized by bright ‘Justler’ t-shirts, went off into a small town off Entebbe Road to conduct interviews with local citizens, testing their main assumptions. As one of the innovators said: “We learned a lot from listening to people who are meant to use our service. (…) From all the people we talked to, everyone has had a problem with land. They didn’t know where to go and the question then is whether our service can make a real difference.”

The next day, on 8 September, the wider public and key stakeholders were invited to the Boostcamp to meet the innovators and exchange ideas on justice innovation. This event was held at Africana Hotel during the Legal Aid Innovations Conference, which was co-organized by BarefootLaw, LASPNET, DGF and HiiL. The morning of the event held speeches by a.o. Chief Justice Katureebe, the Ambassador of the Embassy of the Netherlands and the Chair of the Judiciary ICT Committee Justice Kiryabwire. Up to 300 people came to this inaugural conference to learn about the most innovative justice solutions currently available in Uganda and how to improve justice through technology and citizen-centred solutions. HiiL’s Justice Needs in Uganda report, which was launched in April 2016, was mentioned by all stakeholders as a cornerstone of the evidence currently available on the most pressing justice needs in Uganda.

The five innovations selected by HiiL which were pitching in front of the jury in the afternoon included: E-Migrate (an easy and safe travel agency for migrants and refugees), Evidence and Methods Lab (smart infographics of complex justice problems to promote accountability), Muslim Centre for Justice e-Law App (a legal sms service for Muslim minorities and users of the Qhuadi court), Land Title Search App (a smartphone land title verification tool) and Weetase (a voice-based mobile app to monitor victims of (forced) migration and trafficking).

The 5-headed Jury, chaired by Lucy Ladira, the lead Advisor on Criminal Justice at the JLOS Secretariat, concluded during the public Jury Debrief that they were impressed by the pitches and solutions of all teams, although there was definitely a need for them to research their problem further. The Evidence and Methods Lab was announced as winner by HiiL’s alumni (Lawyers4Farmers and Justice2People), and special mentions went out to Weetase and the Muslim Centre for Justice (strongest impact) as well as the Land Title App (best presentation).

This month HiiL is holding similar Boostcamps in Accra (Ghana), Nairobi (Kenya), Johannesburg (South Africa), The Hague (Netherlands) and Kyiv (Ukraine). At each event, innovators are trained and winners are selected by a local jury. All winners of the Boostcamps win 5000 EUR in seed funding and are invited to take part in HiiL’s Accelerator programme. In total, 12 teams are also invited to come to The Hague in December to take part in the Justice Entrepreneurship School and present their innovations in the Peace Palace.

Nathalie Dijkman is the Justice Sector Advisor (East Africa Program Coordinator) at HiiL

The Judiciary has developed a robust Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy. It is expected that within the next three years, an e-justice will have been operationalized.

Chief Justice Bart Katureebe revealed this on Friday while inaugurating the Legal Aid innovations conference at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

Katureebe said it was imperative that the Government facilitates the development of a legal aid policy and law, adopts a-state-funded legal aid scheme and strengthens community-led initiatives, such as local council courts and a paralegal advisory system that would fill the existing gaps in legal aid service provision.

He, however, regretted that the system was still struggling to eliminate case backlog, which he said was one of the greatest systemic barriers against access to justice.

“The sector is also still grappling with the fact that most Justice Law and Orders Sector (JLOS) institutions remain largely urban-based and unavailable in 18% of the district, while 41% of the institutions operate from premises not fit for the purpose.

The justice system is further faced with many other constraints in service delivery that include lack of modern ICT equipment and reliance on manual processes, low budgetary support to sector institutions, limited legal reference materials, poor remuneration and conditions of service for judicial officers and other staff within the institutions and limited knowledge of the law and human rights by the majority population, among others,” Katureebe further lamented.

He said a report by The Hague Institute for Innovation and the Law (HIIL) on Justice Needs 2016 also revealed that 88% of Ugandans experienced difficulty in accessing justice in the past four years, with land and family cases being rated as the top two most critical disputes.

Katureebe noted that only 18% of the Ugandan population receives legal aid services annually, which leaves the majority, especially the poor and most vulnerable, unable to access justice.

Katureebe said that such a situation leads to frustration sometimes, culminating into criminality manifesting in acts such as suicide and use of extra judicial means like mob justice, which creates insecurity to the population.

He noted that there is an acute shortage of legal practitioners in rural areas and that the legal aid service providers currently available provide project-led interventions, which are not sustainable.

“Our focus should be on what work for the ordinary persons who form the majority of our population. Once we develop a simple, user-friendly and cost effective justice system, the majority will be satisfied and the rates of satisfaction will hit through the roof, which will have unprecedented impact on the public confidence in the administration of justice in this country,” Katureebe stressed.

The Legal Aid Service Providers Network (LASPNET) in collaboration with Barefoot Law and with support from the Democratic Governance Facility will this week hold the first ever legal aid innovations conference from September 7-8, 2017 at Hotel Africana. The conference is aimed at providing a platform to showcase innovations in legal aid service provision. The Hon. Chief Justice is expected to officially open the conference.

The innovations conference will also provide space to network and share good practices in legal aid service delivery especially low cost initiatives that increase efficiency in accessing justice.

HiiL is delighted to invite the general public to the Innovating Justice Boostcamp taking place in Kampala on the 8th of September 2017! This event will highlight this year’s semi-finalists in the Innovating Justice Challenge 2017. The pitch fest will take place during the Legal Aid Innovations Conference, which is organized in partnership with BarefootLaw, LASPNET and DGF.

In May 2017, HiiL launched their latest Justice Data Report on Family Justice in Uganda. This was done at a workshop hosted by the Swedish Embassy in Kampala. The launch was accompanied by the attendance of representatives from the key actors from the justice system who are concerned with family justice, including the JLOS secretariat, the National Police, the Judiciary, DGF, LASPNET, IDLO and the Law Reform Commission.

This latest HiiL report follows the outcomes of nation-wide justice needs and satisfaction survey that HiiL conducted in Uganda in 2016. That report showed that justice problems relating to the family rank constitute the most prevalent justice problem for Ugandans. More than 1 million serious family justice problems occur in Uganda every year: most of them are domestic violence and separation related. As in other countries, this survey shows high impact of family problems on people’s lives. Impact on women is more severe than impact on men.

The Family Justice report contains a deeper understanding of the family-related problems that Ugandans face. This includes the processes people follow to solve these problems and the outcomes that they obtain when attempting to get a solution. It sets out the foundation for an agenda for innovation that builds on the needs of users of family justice processes.

Instead of proposing new legislation or financing additional services, the report outlines terms of reference and user stories: what should the family justice process achieve for women, men, girls and boys? What do justice providers from the informal or formal sector need, in order to help solve family problems more effectively?

The launching workshop concluded that the results of this study should become building blocks for an action plan to improve the treatment of family disputes in Uganda and first steps were taken to make this concrete.

Innovators working on justice and legal issues worldwide can apply for up to 20,000 EUR in equity-free grant money as part of the HiiL Justice Accelerator’s Innovating Justice Challenge. The Call for Applications, which opened March 1 and remains open until June 30, encourages two types of application: first, startups with an idea and team may apply for funding in the Call for Innovations; second, individuals without a team or idea can apply for the Call for Talent.

The Call for Innovations has, over the last five years, awarded funding to over 60 innovative justice/legal technologies from all over the world. It is open to applicants with both a team and justice innovation idea.

The Call for Talent is a search for individuals with a particular skill that they wish to apply to the cause of justice innovation. Up to 10 individuals will be selected and supported through innovation training, some travel to local events, support for their ideas, and future support.

Applications are particularly encouraged that address six main pointsof justice: employment justice, family justice, neighbor disputes, land disputes, crime and law enforcement, and migration/human trafficking. Applications are also welcome from other areas. More information about HiiL can be found HERE and please submit your ideas HERE.

Six (6) Ugandan innovation proposals have been shortlisted in the 2016 edition of HIIL innovating Justice awards for 2016. These are part of the 36 innovations selected by HiLL - 14 of which are from East Africa forming the biggest chuck of those who made it to this stage from the 05 participating regions (Southern Africa, Northern Africa, Middle East and Ukraine).

According to a statement released by Connor Sattely the Business Accelerator Agent at HiiL, the semi final list includes seven startups that were selected as winners of the 2016 Voting Campaign, as well as 29 innovations selected by HiiL in conjunction with local entrepreneurship experts in those innovations' regions. Together, the 36 innovations will now attend and pitch at a local Boostcamp in their region -- Kyiv, Lagos, Nairobi, Tunis, Johannesburg, and Kampala. Additionally, some of the 36 will crowdfund on www.innovatingjustice.com starting on October 1.

The Kampala edition of the Innovating Justice Boostcamp will take place on September 23 2016 at Ranlab.

The HiiL Justice Accelerator team will select up to 10 innovations by October 20 who will move on to the final round and pitch in The Hague in December for an Innovating Justice Award. Up to 160,000 EUR will be split between the winners of the awards.

About HiiL

HiiL is a not-for-profit foundation based in The Hague, Netherlands with specific focus on introducing innovation to justice systems through cutting edge research about the needs of users. In Uganda, HiLL recently authored a report 'Justice Needs in Uganda' that takes a broad look at the day to day experiences and justice needs of ordinary Ugandans.

By Edgar Kuhimbisa | Published: September 6 2016

CORRECTION: Six (6) start ups from Uganda have been shortlisted for the Innovating Justice Awards 2016 semi finals and not three (3) as stated in the earlier edition of this article.

A young pregnant woman undergoes a caesarean by an unqualified doctor and is now in pain every day, but is afraid to report it to the police. A farmer becomes a victim of land grabbing, and is unable to feed his family, but can't afford transportation to the courthouse. A wife is severely beaten by her drunken husband but does not know where to turn to for help. These are all true stories, and we heard many stories similar to these accounts in the course of researching “Justice Needs in Uganda”. In this research launched on the 14th of April by my organization, HiiL, Innovating Justice, we interviewed more than 6000 people from all corners of the country.

It turns out that almost nine out of 10 Ugandan citizens needed access to the justice system over the last few years, but their needs remained unmet. Many of those who embarked on a justice journey, either through the informal or formal system, found the processes to be lengthy and unfair, especially when the other party was richer or more powerful. Others struggled to navigate complex systems in the absence of clear information about the appropriate organization or institution to address their specific problems. And still others believe that no matter what they did, nothing would change their situation for the better. The fact is, across the country, millions of Ugandans have to deal with these issues.

A new study supported by Sweden reveals justice needs of Ugandans. The study was carried out by HiiL Innovating Justice and launched by the Principle Judge Hon. Dr. Yorokamu Bamwine in Kampala on April 13 2016.

The study shows that over a period of four years 90% of Ugandans experience justice needs, the most prevalent problems being related to land, family matters and crime. The study further showed that the Local Council Courts are the most trusted institution both for seeking information and solving disputes. The Embassy of Sweden is currently working with JLOS partners to design a new programme to enhance Access to Justice and Rule of Law in Uganda.